


Family Business

by kasey1939



Category: Bones (TV)
Genre: AU, Bones is a criminal, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-18
Updated: 2015-07-05
Packaged: 2018-04-05 01:40:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,284
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4160802
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kasey1939/pseuds/kasey1939
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What if Brennan hadn't lost her family as a teenager, what if she and Russ had grown up with Max and their mother? This is my take on Criminal! Bones and what that might be like.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Cards on the Table

**Author's Note:**

> [](http://s1063.photobucket.com/user/kasey19391/media/Done%20Story%20Banners/family%20business.jpg.html)
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**Disclaimer : I do this for fun not profit, so reap the rewards with a fun read.**

[](http://s1063.photobucket.com/user/kasey19391/media/Chapter%20art/Family%20Business/Chapter%201.jpg.html)

  
  


Temperance "Bones" Brennan kept her face void of expression while the FBI agent read her, her rights while she was pressed up against her car having her hands cuffed behind her back. Like the cuffs would really stop her if she wanted her hands free, as if, but she knew the rules and she knew what was coming next.

She would wait just like her father taught her and she would see how this whole thing played out. Max always said _"Never make things worse than they already are by jumping the gun and acting without thinking it through first."_ So she would give it time and if things went south then she could always escape later.

Special Agent Seeley Booth reached up to straighten his tie not for the first time since entering the Directors office to wait for his meeting. He didn't want to bring this to the Directors attention, he thought they were all managing just fine the way they were, but Cam had insisted and just like always he caved. Yet another reason why they no longer dated she knew exactly what buttons to push to get him to do as she asked. Unfortunately, that skill also applied to their working relationship as well. Hearing voices on the other side of the door he turned just in time to see the Director breeze into the office the look of irritation almost permanently etched on his face these days in full force.

"Booth, what can I do for you today?" His voice matched his expression perfectly, irritation.

"Well, sir, the squints at the Jeffersonian have petitioned for more help to be assigned to them in the near future sir."

"Why? Things have been working out so far? Why do they suddenly need more hands on deck?" He looked just as confused as he had when Cam had first brought it up making him feel marginally better about having not noticed the problem beforehand.

"Sir, as you know Doctor Goodman has sectioned off the team at the Jeffersonian that works with us so that he can better run the rest of the institute, and in his absence Doctor Saroyan has taken over supervision of the squints there. In an attempt to better understand exactly what is expected of her people from us she has been going over all the old cases her team worked on in conjuction with the FBI for the last five years and according to her the caseload given to them has nearly tripled in the last year with no additional funding or help. So, she says that if we want to keep them going at that pace they either need another squint from us or the funds to hire one themselves."

"Tripled?" The look of surprise on the Director’s face made him feel more at ease with being just as clueless about how much they'd overworked the Jeffersonian team lately. "Why didn't Goodman ever ask us for more people if it's been a year since they needed one?"

"My understanding sir is that Goodman while a scientist is an archeologist so didn't really help on the cases we sent. If what the squints told Cam is true Goodman would just sign the papers then leave them to their own devices to solve the case in any way they saw fit. This is how we got things like a crash test dummy made of spam in an incinerator, which is something I believe Doctor Saroyan means to put a stop to as well. She used to work with law enforcement and she knows all about court cases and what would get one laughed out of a courtroom."

"Well, that's something at least. Fine they'll get the help if they insist they need it. They're too valuable an asset to have them working at substandard levels. I'll bring it up with my superiors and you'll have my answer by end of day if we'll be paying out or shipping a squint their way."

"Thank you, Sir." He knew a dismissal when he heard it so he silently got up and fled back to his office. Picking up his phone he called Cam to let her know she'd been approved.

Bones sat at the table in the small interrogation room and waited for the suits sitting across from her to actually speak. They had been sitting in silence for forty-five minutes and while she was very patient and their tactics weren't putting her on edge as they'd hoped she knew they would be talking soon. They were running out of time and they knew it. 

"Ms. Keenan...” Of course the condescending name confusion thing. Could they be any more uniform? She could do this in her sleep.

"Doctor Brennan."

"Excuse me?" One eyebrow raised in censure for interrupting meant to make her feel scolded and then eager to please to make up for the breech in etiquette. Willing to spill all her secrets so she would get a gold star next to her proper name or something equally as idiotic and unlikely to work.

"My name is Doctor Temperance Brennan it was legally changed from Joy Keenan ten years ago which you already know, so could we skip the amateur psychology and get right to why you're here. Not that you're not stellar company and all but I think we all have better things to do than to stay in this room playing games that we all know won't work on me. So next..."

"Very well, Doctor, I see you have a degree in Forensic Anthropology, care to explain why you chose that field of study." What was this? Trying to find common ground maybe. Or maybe trying to make her see that she was too smart to go to prison.

"Well I really wanted to be an astronaut but when I got to NASA they had a sign that said no girls allowed. Care to explain why you chose to have that stick surgically imbedded in your backside, inquiring minds and all that."

"We have been authorized to offer you a deal." A deal? Interesting, if nothing else it was original.

"I'm listening." She likely wouldn't take it, they probably wanted her to turn on her people, but she could at least listen and see just how epically they would fail.

"The FBI contracts out most of its more complex scientific inquiries to the Jeffersonian Institute where they have a team of highly respected and capable scientists in varying fields of experience. While we have a forensic anthropologist on staff there Mr. Addey is in fact a grad student." Oh she saw where this was going now. Not as original as she'd first thought but still interesting all the same.

"So what you meant to say is you have someone who wants to be a forensic anthropologist when he grows up."

"Indeed. Now the head of the group has requested an additional scientist be placed there to help with the ever growing caseload. After going over what members she already has at her disposal it was decided that the most benefit would be gained from placing a fully vetted forensic anthropologist on her staff. However..."

"The nearest is in Montreal, well other than me of course."

"Yes, and since you are only being charged with non-violent crimes it has been decided that it would be acceptable to have you serve out your sentence at the Jeffersonian rather than in the maximum security prison you would no doubt be shipped to. So what is your answer Doctor Brennan?"

Doctor Saroyan was beyond angry by the time she reached Booth's office after reading the memo sent to her about her newest team member. Really they were placing a felon in charge of her people. 

In order for this to work she would have to be placed under her but above everyone else and she could already see how well that was going to go over. This was a nightmare in the making. Pushing the door to Booth's office open with more force than necessary she went in guns blazing so to speak.

"What the hell is wrong with you people?"

Noticing too late that Booth was already in a meeting with someone she thought about backtracking and coming back later before nearly immediately dismissing it. She was already in it, might as well go all the way. Besides the man he was meeting with looked like an overgrown twelve year old playing dress up. 

"Doctor Saroyan, meet Doctor Sweets FBI clinical psychiatrist. Doctor Sweets you've already read all about Cam here, now you get to meet her in person a little ahead of schedule." Booth's eyes said it all. Don't fuck up any more in front of the shrink.

"Hello, Doctor Sweets, I'm sorry to have interrupted but there is an issue I need to discuss with agent Booth that just couldn't wait."

"You came to talk about Doctor Brennan I assume."

How the hell did this little ... shrink know about **HER**. Yes the HER was in capital letters.

"I am going to be assigned to your team to try and help with the transition that you're making with the addition of Doctor Brennan to your staff."

"So the FBI put her with us as what? Some kind of experiment? See how we react?" Hell if they wanted a reaction that badly she'd sure as hell give them one.

"This is less about you and your team and more about her. We want to see how she reacts to not only being put into a place of authority but also being thrown into an already established group dynamic. We know that she's a bit of a grifter and that she was raised by a con-man so she can adapt at least on the surface to just about any situation. What we want to do is see if getting her out of her comfort zone and placing her in someone elses shoes so to speak will force her to see everything differently.

"The hope is that given enough time with you and your team, also with her close dealings with Agent Booth she may eventually turn on her less law abiding associates and eventually maybe even her family." The shrink seemed so earnest, like he truly believed this would work.

"How exactly is sticking us with her going to accomplish all of that?" What did they think her team was some sort of criminal rehab program?

"We believe that with enough positive role models and the good feelings that come from doing good followed by the positive reinforcement of seeing the results of her hard work bringing peace and closure to victims of crimes and their families that one day in the future she will begin to see herself as a force for good and her associates and family as those that need to be stopped."

"Oh really?" How stupid were these people? " Just how far into the future do you see this going?" How long did they think it would take to get this woman, this highly intelligent if criminal woman, to turn her back on everyone she cares for?

"We estimate it will take at least a year. During this time she will have no contact with her family or associates making your team and Agent Booth and myself as her only source of positive validation and comfort. By cutting her off from everything else it reinforces the belief that our faith in her is all she'll need when the time comes." Glancing at Booth she saw the same thoughts in his eyes that were racing around in her own mind. They were insane! This would never work.

This would never work! Bones looked down at her clothes and could barely hold back a groan of disgust. They had her dress as freaking career girl barbie over here. No color, no give, no personality. This just wasn't her! Then again as far as she could tell that was the entire point. They didn't want her to be herself they were trying to change her. 

While she didn't put much stock in psychology that didn't mean she didn't understand it, she knew exactly what they were doing. They were trying to break her. Trying to change her little by little like she wouldn't notice. As if!

She would play along for now, figure out their end game, then she would be gone from here back to her family. She already missed them all. Her parents, her friends, even her brother though they never really saw eye to eye on anything these days, their personalities were just too different. 

She would get through this though, she would just think of it as another job. One that would take some time, but it would eventually end and she would go back to being herself. Glancing down at the tracking device on her ankle she closed her eyes taking a deep breath to center herself before pasting on a smile and leaving her run down little apartment to start her first day of her new job with her new partner.


	2. First Case

[](http://s1063.photobucket.com/user/kasey19391/media/Chapter%20art/Family%20Business/Chapter%202.jpg.html)

  
  


Brennan sat in the highly uncomfortable chair across from one of her new bosses. Doctor Goodman was the head of the institute which made him her bosses, boss, and before she could meet the team she would be working with first she had to have "the talk" with him.

She pretty much already knew everything he was going to say but at the same time it was slightly nerve wracking to be there. She didn't care about what the man thought of her, but at the same time she respected him and his reputation within the scientific community. 

She'd read several papers that the man had published several years ago and had found his findings, while theatrical and steeped in supposition, very entertaining and intriguing. As most archaeologists did, doctor Goodman tended to turn the facts he found into a story to be told. While he was less scientific than most of the other professionals that she admired there was just something about him that always spoke to her. It was the way he would tell the stories of the long dead and nearly forgotten that would nearly bring them all back to life if only for a few moments and then they would live on forever in the imagination of the reader. 

It was a lot like what her family would do when they would become someone else. The person you were becoming had to be real to you after all or the "performance" would simply fall flat.

She could tell from the way he was sitting, without a twitch or a fidget, that he was trying to wait her out. He thought to try and make her take the lead in the conversation to try and psycho analyze her actions along with her reactions and responses. Normally when people did things like that she would just sit as still as a statue and wait even longer herself, but for some reason she decided to give a little with this man. 

She could tell from the set of his shoulders that he was tense, worried even, and she knew why. She worried him, this place these people were his, and now she was a potentially dangerous unknown being thrown into the mix likely without his impute or consent. She understood that and would take pity on him.

"Doctor Goodman, I understand that you don't want me here and I understand why you don't want me here. To be honest I don't really wish to be here either, but I am here and I plan to make the best of a bad situation and I can only hope that everyone else here feels the same way."

There she had given him the opening that he wanted, now all that was left was to see what direction he took after he walked through it. His next sentence would tell her a great deal about him, and his thoughts and feelings towards her. Was he going to be an ally, an enemy, or something in between.

"I understand that you were given about as much of a choice in the matter as we were, and I find myself wanting to apologize for that even though I had no part to play in your current situation. I was given a copy of your records to peruse before your arrival along with a list of the current charges leveled against you. I see from that, from your history, that you are extremely intelligent and your qualifications leave nothing to be desired. Had you chosen a different life path I feel certain you would have likely come to be here of your own free will. 

"Please do not misunderstand me when I say this next bit, but I feel it must be said. Your past does show intellect as I said but it also shows a willingness to tread where many others fear to go. Here at the Jeffersonian we dwell within the light of life only to have to continuously dive head first into the darkness in order to drag the answers that are sought back with us into the light of day. You live your life in the grey areas in between the darkness and the light, and I am having trouble understanding exactly what it is that is expected of us all with this experiment, but I do hope one day to find those answers as well."

Realizing she was free to go now she slowly made her way out of his office and tried to understand exactly what it was he'd been trying to say. She'd understood the words of course but his meaning was two fold and she couldn't seem to figure out exactly what it was he had truly meant. 

"Doctor Brennan this way please, it's time for you to meet the team you're assigned to be working with."

Booth was up on the platform in the middle of the Jeffersonian lab surrounded by the squints as they all waited for Brennan's meeting with Goodman to end. He was still on the fence about the whole thing but he'd been given his orders and now he was responsible for a felon while trying to work a case out in the field. 

When the orders had first come down that Brennan would be a part of their little team he'd thought she would be treated like all the other squints, stuck in the lab not allowed out in the light of day with everyone else. 

Then it was explained to him by the mutant adolescent Sweets that part of this little "exercise" was showing her every part of the justice they would be finding for these people. She was going out in the field with him, knocking on doors, asking questions, and finding the ones responsible.

He hadn't liked the idea, and he'd even gone to the Director about it hoping that someone, hell anyone, other than Cam and her crew would take his side about this. No one had of course, and he'd even been given a warning to not "screw this thing up". Life was so unfair at times, but he would do this to the best of his ability and he would hope like hell everyday that his new "partner" wouldn't get him killed. Either accidentally or on purpose.

Hearing the sounds of a long purposeful stride headed towards them all he turned and got his first real look at Doctor Temperance Brennan.

Cam waited for the woman to make it all the way up onto the platform before she began the introductions. She was hoping that if she set a strong enough example of professionalism towards their newest member of the team that the others would follow her lead and do the same.

"Welcome to the Jeffersonian Doctor Brennan. I am Doctor Soroyan, I am the head of the team here and I offer both assistance and oversight. When we are brought to the scene of a crime and the remains still retain some flesh that is where my expertise comes into the equation. Beyond that I am a former medical examiner and a former law enforcement agent. 

“This is Doctor Hodgins he deals with particulates, slime, insects, and other non organic materials. To your right is Mr.. Addey who has been filling the roll of forensic anthropologist. To the right of him is Doctor Sweets who is a psychiatrist assigned to our team his role is both to provide profiles of the people we're after based on the information of the victims we can provide, but also to ensure the psychological well being of every member of the team. Sessions with Doctor Sweets are both mandatory and non-negotiable. Finally to your right is Special Agent Booth, he will be your partner in the field. Now that you know who everyone is we're going to jump right into our current case. If everyone would be so kind as to help catch Doctor Brennan up on the details we know so far."

There that wasn't so hard was it, now hopefully everyone would follow her lead and keep it all about the work. 

"The body was found in Arlington cemetery in the pond located on the grounds. The remains were wrapped in four mil flat polly construction sheeting and pvc chicken wire and weighted to prevent it from rising to the surface during decomp. The skeleton was complete save for the skull which as you can see is fragmented." Zach of course had no problem with that. Hell, with his social skills or lack thereof it was completely likely that he didn't understand why everyone was so apprehensive about the inclusion of a new member to the team. When he'd been given the chance to review her file he'd likely looked at her education and qualifications and nothing else.

"The pond was warm and teaming with microbes but it also housed black carp and coy which fed on the remains accelerating decomp. Given all those factors I estimate the body was in the water for one winter and two summers." Hodgins was being as polite as he was with any one of them. His anger issues were something else she was hoping Sweets could focus a bit of his attention on. It had been decided that for Sweets to be able to keep close tabs on Doctor Brennan and her progress that everyone would have to attend sessions with him. 

"The remains are female between eighteen to twenty-two years old, approximately five foot three with delicate features. There were some small bones found lodged under the ribcage but they do not belong to this skeleton but were in fact frog bones that got mixed in with the remains likely when the creature became caught in the material used to wrap the body." Zack finished telling her everything that they knew so far and while she could see that they had mildly impressed her, she could also see that she thought they had missed something. Only question now was, was that arrogance or experience?

"Would you mind if I took a look at everything and determined some of that for myself. It's not that I don't trust your finding, it's just that I would like to see if there is anything more I might be able to add." Her question and explanation was polite and offered no insult so she didn't see any reason to deny the request, but she saw the rest of her team getting their hackles up. God help them if they had missed something.

"Of course Doctor Brennan, after all that is why you're here." One of the reasons anyway.

Bones knew that they wouldn't leave her alone with the remains, they didn't know anything about her but what they'd read in a FBI file so it wasn't likely they would trust her not to compromise the evidence or the remains for a while to come. Looking over everything she saw everything that Mr. Addey had described to her and a bit more. 

"May I see the small bones you found under the ribcage please?"

It was a little disconcerting trying to examine the bones with such a focused and captive audience. They all simply stared at her as though they had nothing better to do. Normally she would have snapped at them to all go somewhere else by now, but she was trying to build bridges here not burn them so she just blocked them all out and concentrated on the work.

What she found made her stomach churn and her skin crawl. Looking up at the people around her she pulled off her gloves to show them that her examination was done.

"After looking over the remains myself I concur with Mr. Addey's findings and only have two things to add to his very clear picture. First off, if you note the slight wear of the shoulder here, that indicates that your victim was a tennis player and a fairly serious one at that. You don't get injuries like that from a casual sport, this woman played often. Second, these smaller bones found under the ribs are not frog bones, the curvature is all wrong for that. These are half formed fetal bones."

"You mean-"

"Your victim was pregnant when she died. If you like I could try and reconstruct the skull to see if it would be possible to narrow down your victim profile a little more. A full or even partial skull could help to give us race or some other distinguishing features."

"Of course Doctor Brennan."

Booth sat in his office and didn't know what to think. She had looked at the remains for no more than ten minutes and had not only confirmed everything they already knew but also gave them the victims favorite sport and that she had been expecting at the time of her disappearance. 

What he'd just seen didn't fit with the file he'd read at all. Deciding to push it all aside for now he turned to his computer and started pulling up all the missing persons files for women ages eighteen to twenty-two who were pregnant at the time of the disappearance.


	3. Old Faces in New Places

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bones needs help so she turns to an old friend.

[](http://s1063.photobucket.com/user/kasey19391/media/Chapter%20art/Family%20Business/Chapter%203.jpg.html)

  
  


Brennan sat at the same desk she'd been at for the past nine hours and looked at the now completed skull. It had taken forever, but the reconstruction was finally complete. Now they needed to put a face to the bones, she only hoped that they could. She found that realizing that this woman had been pregnant at the time of her death made her really want to find the son of a bitch that took her future away from her.

She'd known murderers before, hazard of the life she lead, but she only ever associated with those that had a code. No children, even unborn ones, that was just something that never washed out. If you killed a child, most believed that your hands would be stained beyond redemption. Adults, of either gender, at least had the chance to fight back and possibly live on through sheer force of will and strength, children had no such chance when faced with a fully grown adult. 

Leaving the skull where it was she went to find her new boss, to ask about a facial reconstruction.

“Dr. Soroyan, I have finished with the skull, who here does facial composites?” The womans back had been turned to her, so she jumped slightly at the sound of her voice, but she recovered quickly. Good for her.

“Wow, that was quick work, with as many pieces as it had been in I had thought it would take at least twice as long to complete it. As for the facial composite, we do not have an artist on staff at the moment, we had someone but they proved to be unreliable and their work was usually hit or miss. Now we rely on a computer program that you will find through here.”

A computer program? Not good enough!

“Actually I find I am quite tired after everything, and I thought I might go home for a few hours to get myself back together.” She hated this part of her “deal”, having to ask permission from her superiors on the use of her time. She could do nothing without either Dr. Soroyan or Agent Booth signing off on it and punching their code into her nifty new ankle monitor. If she tried to leave the premises of the Jeffersonian without either ones code the entire building would go on lock down to prevent her re-entry and the authorities would be alerted to her violation and be sent real time GPS of her location.

“Of course, I'm sorry for not suggesting it myself. Be sure to punch out and I will sign off on three hours for you.”

“Thank you.” Thankfully though she did have a nice radius she could wander without either of them at her side as long as one of them signed off on her having personal time. They housed her five miles from the Jeffersonian and she was allowed an equal five miles in either direction of both her home and work. Thankfully the park she wanted to visit was within her zone. 

Wandering around the park filled with street performers and other creative types she looked for the familiar multicolored controlled chaos that she knew by heart. 

“Angela!”

“Tempy? Sweetie, where the hell have you been? I heard you got scooped up!” She allowed the hug to soothe her in a way she hadn't even known she'd needed until that moment. Just seeing a familiar friendly face again after so long surrounded by people who didn't trust her was something she hadn't known she was craving until now. 

“I was. I've missed you Anggie.” She braced herself for the hit before it came. She knew her best friend well.

“Don't call me Anggie!”

“Don't call me Tempy!” It was an old argument. In reality neither of them really cared if the other called them something completely off the wall as long as they were talking to each other.

“Okay, tell me everything!” She let Angela drag her off to the side to sit on a bench and she took the ice-cream that she pulled out of her little cooler. She never really cared for it all that much, but she knew it was one of her friends comfort foods, so on occasion they would indulge together.

“I got taken in on these bogus trumped up charges. They had me cold on some of it, but at best with my record I would have gotten six months if not a suspended sentence or community service. You know how my dad works, one part never touches another so there's no way you can go down for the whole thing. These guys though, they wanted to make an offer so they stacked everything against me until I was looking at ten years easy.” Hell half the time she didn't even get why she was still here, with her friends not to mention her dad's old buddies she could be all the way to Figi by now if she wanted. 

Then that body on the slab in the lab would push to the front of her mind and she would stay. She was being ridiculous and she knew it, but she promised herself that this one would be the only one. She'd help to catch this one jerkoff and then she was so out of here, the FBI's plans be damned.

“What did they offer? A deal?”

“A job.” So she began to outline everything from start to finish, including why she'd come here in the first place.

“Oh, I see how it is. You need me so I rate a visit. Nice.” She knew she wasn't really mad at her, she wanted something. This was her weedle face.

“What do you want?” She knew her help wasn't contingent on her getting her way, she would help her simply because she asked her to, but there was no harm in asking was there.

“I need a place to crash.”

She thought about it a minute. Her place was most definitely monitored by the FBI, not that something like that would matter to Angela. Besides Angela was legit in all her dealings, beyond the occasional favor for a friend, not to mention that the feds never once said that she couldn't have a room mate. They probably thought that it was implied somewhere, but if it's not in writing then it doesn't count.

“Sure, it's a one bedroom apartment but there's a pullout. Or we could just share the bed, up to you.” She knew it was coming, but that didn't keep the enthusiastic thank you from nearly knocking her to the ground. “Alright, come on we'll get you moved in then you can help me with that thing I need you to do.”

“Sounds like a plan.” 

Brennan sat at the table and looked around at all of her new colleagues, as they each offered up what they knew of the crime so far. 

“What about a face, do we have one yet?” Booth was looking more and more frustrated as they told him more and more information that all added up to nothing he could use at the moment. All this information would be a good jumping off point once he had a suspect, but for the moment he didn't even really have a victim.

“I think we do now, yes, if you'll follow me to the computer lab.” She'd left Angela to do her thing four hours ago so they should have something by now. She said something about a computer program, but she would have done a sketch first so they would have something to go on. 

“Excuse me, who are you?” Looking up at the question she saw that Dr. Soroyan had gotten ahead of her and found Angela hard at work.

“This is Angela Montenegro, she's a friend of mine and a very talented artist. I asked her to come and help us find a face for our victim. With as damaged as the skull was the computer program alone, which is at least four years out of date anyway, would have been unable to give us an accurate face, Angela can.”

“Woah woah woah, you can't just bring your criminal friends into an ongoing FBI investigation. What's with you squints always doing dumb stuff like this, I thought you egg heads were meant to be smarter than the rest of us.” How dare he! Just because Angela was her friend that didn't make her a criminal.

“Angela is not a criminal, she's an artist, I believe I already explained that!”

“That's not the point, you can't just-” She'd had enough, they wanted results, this was how they could get them, and now they weren't even willing to try. Ahhh! These people were so annoying.

“Just give her a chance, Angela tell them what you have so far.” She turned to her friend putting her body between Angela and the Jeffersonian crew. 

“This computer program which I designed, patent pending, accepts a full array of digital input, processes it, and then projects it as a 3D holographic image.” She saw the looks of begrudging respect that overtook all the “squints” and the look of confusion that overtook Agent Booth. The only part he probably understood was the patent pending part. 

That was fine of course, a good team was comprised of people with different yet complimentary strengths, Booth wasn't needed as another scientist, he was needed as an investigator.

“Brennan reassembled the skull and applied tissue markers.” Everyone turned towards the rotating skull for a moment, taking in her work.

“Her skull was badly damaged but racial indicators, cheek bone dimension, nasal arch, occipital measurement all suggests African American.” As the program began to run she saw the looks of awe that none of the others could hide as the image projected before their very eyes. Even she had to admit that Angela was good, amazing even, but there was something off about the image. She looked familiar, but it was a little off.

“Angela re-run using Caucasian features.” Closer but still wrong. “Now split the difference mixed race.”

“Lenny Kravits or Vanessa Williams?” She thought about it for a minute.

“More Lenny than Vanessa.” Finally the face was starting to look more like what she remembered. If only she could remember where she'd seen it before. “Angela reduce tissue depth over the cheekbones to the jawline. Does she look familiar to anyone?” She could tell from Booth's expression he knew exactly who this woman was.

“Cleo Louise Eller. Only daughter to Ted and Sharon Eller. Last seen approximately nine p.m. April 6th 2003, leaving the Cardio Deluxe Gym on Kay Street. She didn't even make it to her car.” Booth recited the facts from memory, almost by rote, but there was something in his voice when he did. It was almost, sorrow, but somehow not, like it was an old wound newly remembered.

“Wait wasn't she that Senate intern who was screwing that big wig Senator?” Angela of course would remember the sex involved.

“Yeah Senator Alan Bethlaham.”

“That was never proven.” The force behind Booth's statement made everyone calm down. This almost seemed personal for him, but she knew it couldn't be. The FBI didn't do personal. Did they?


End file.
